Consumer boards and cables with Theo Webster

For professional electrician and new Prysmian brand ambassador Theo Webster, it’s all about making the right calls on rewiring, working around the challenges of changing consumer units and using quality cables. In this Q&A, Theo shares an insight into his day-to-day activities, what it means to be compliant and what his dream project would be.

What are the challenges of changing a consumer board?

Your biggest obstacle when it comes to changing a consumer board would be the length of the pre-existing cables. The size of the incoming tails, typically on older properties are undersized. 

If you're having to extend all the cables, obviously you can either go down the route of putting in some trunking and try to join everything in there or physically just crimping everything in the board, which can be a bit of a pain. 

Do you need to rewire the property if you change the consumer board? 

No not always. It depends on the age of the property. It'd be preferable if it's 25 years or older. Typically, you would probably look to try and rewire if it's within the client's budget, obviously, but it’s not always possible.

I would look at rewiring if the property is younger than 25 years, if for example, the consumer board has just been really poorly installed or is dangerous, then you'd obviously look to rewire.

Does it largely depend on the state of the cables in that case?

Yeah, pretty much, because I think I think cable manufacturers only guarantee their cables for 20 years or 25 years typically. Although you do sometimes see cables still working after 50 years and they're absolutely fine. It all comes down to the conditions they're in. 

What are the common causes of electrical faults you’ve come across in homes? 

Typically, either poor installation or rodent damage. Also, the under sizing of circuits, this causes the cable to overheat and cause the PVC to break down. DIYers can cause faults too!  

External influences such as water ingress can sometimes cause electrical faults because they effect the cables. For example, some people might use PVC cables outside, but they're not UV rated, and they become damaged.

What kind of projects do you typically work on?

I always like to say that we cover the full spectrum of electricals, but there are a few elements that we don't cover. Predominantly we do a lot of residential and commercial work, but we also sort of dabble in industrial projects as and when they come up.

In terms of commercial projects, we’ll work on anything up to 240 V systems low voltage, internet networks as well. A bit of everything.

So, you work on fibre installations too? 

Yes, although we always use pre terminated fibre because I'm not a fibre splicer, but I know how it works. I’m able to test it and install it for our clients. 

In your opinion, what makes a good quality cable and what makes a poor quality cable?

How it strips when you're dismantling a cable. Whether that's twin and earth or an SWA cable, you can tell there’s a massive difference between using Prysmian and a cheaper brand for instance. An example would be Prysmian armoured cable, it strips really well in my opinion, whereas some of the cheaper ones don't and they can be quite hard to work with.

So, it’s all down to the stripability of the cable?

I think so. I mean, you'll notice it in the quality of the insulation on the cores as well. Again, if we look at SWA cables, the inner insulation on some branded cable is almost semi-translucent because they've used poor quality materials. So again, when you're trying to strip it, it's just an absolute nightmare.

What are your thoughts on the current standards? 

We’re the most regulated electricals in the world. You know that if you go anywhere in Europe or anywhere, really, the regulations that they have to work to are nowhere near the standards that we have to. It's all good, it's all aimed towards our safety and the safety of our clients at the end of the day.

How do you make sure you keep up with the regulations?

When the regulation number changes, for example, from 18th to 19th we all obviously have to update our knowledge. I work with NAPIT, the governing body for electricians, and they obviously send us all the documentation. So as and when there is an amendment, we're always made aware of regulation changes. 
It’s typically to do with changes to fire regulations. That's where there tends to be a lot of changes and obviously RC protection as well. So, it's important to stay on top of it definitely, whereas I know a lot don't. 

What’s the one thing you think could make your job easier?

I think finding somebody who's got the same sort of drive that I have, would be a great help. I think when you're self-employed you’re a little bit different in some respects because you know the buck stops with you. No one can finish a job except you, and everything else you have to do with the client and so on. 

So, I've always found with people that work for me they don't have the same drive or attitude towards things, so perhaps if I could bottle that up and inject it into people that'd be amazing – willingly obviously!

What’s been your favourite project so far and why? 

There’s been so many! I'd say probably the biggest project I've ever done, was a load of student accommodation in Exeter about four years ago. We worked on 220 bedrooms across two buildings. I liked it because it was just such a challenge. I like the pressure and the fact that there's so much to think about. 

I enjoy that element of the job, taking on these large-scale projects where other companies would shy away from and sort of dive right in and just go for it. So yeah, that's probably my favourite project. It was my biggest project as I had 13 people working for me. I learned a lot in terms of managing people.

How was it managing so many people on one project?

It was good for the most part, sometimes people do have the tendency to let you down for whatever reason but no, it was an interesting experience. Half of the team I knew really well outside of work as well, so that created an interesting dynamic.  

At the time I was around 26-27, so the majority of them were older than me, so it was a bit of a challenge trying to manage people who think they have a better way of doing things than you. But overall it was a good experience. It was great learning curve for me. 

What is your dream project?

I definitely want to travel with work. I would love to be given an unlimited budget and free reign on someone’s house so I can just make it absolutely stunning, I'm really passionate about lighting and what you can do with it and how it affects you. I would love to be able to really express myself and show a client how their house could really look. That would be amazing. Unfortunately, those clients are few and far between!

At the same time, I'd love to work in different fields abroad, for example, go over to Australia and get down in the mines and do some really horrible jobs as well – but I enjoy those. Always up for a challenge!

If you want to find out more about Theo’s projects, visit his Instagram account: @theowebsterelectrical or check out his YouTube channel.